In order to improve knowledge of the identification, distribution and abundances of microplastic particles of 1 mm or less (S-MPPs) in the coastal area of the Mediterranean region, a preliminary ...monitoring survey was carried out in a transitional environment along the north-eastern Italian coasts, the Lagoon of Venice. S-MPPs were evaluated in sediments collected from 10 sites chosen in shallow areas variously affected by natural conditions and anthropogenic influences (i.e., landward stations influenced by freshwater inputs, seaward areas near sea inlets, and sites influenced by the presence of aquaculture farms, industry and city centers). S-MPPs, extracted from bulk sediments by density separation, were counted and identified by Fourier-Transform Infrared Micro-spectroscopy (μFT-IR). The μFT-IR process included automatic surface chemical mapping and references to an infrared library database to identify the compositional spectra of particles. S-MPPs were recovered from all samples – a fact which emphasizes their extensive distribution throughout the Lagoon. Total abundances varied from 2175 to 672 S-MPPs kg−1 d.w., higher concentrations generally being observed in landward sites. Of the ten polymer types identified, the most abundant, accounting for more than 82% of total S-MPPs, were polyethylene and polypropylene. The most frequent size (93% of observed microplastics) was in the range 30–500 μm. Total S-MPP values were significantly correlated with the finer sediment fraction and with the metal pollution index.
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•Microplastics ≤1 mm extracted from bulk sediments were identified by μFT-IR.•Their occurrence and distribution were evidenced in the sediments of Venice Lagoon.•Microplastics were found in all samples, with highest concentrations in landward sites.•The most abundant polymers were polyethylene and polypropylene.
Venice's reputation for political stability and a strong, balanced republican government holds a prominent place in European political theory. Edward Muir traces the origins and development of this ...reputation, paying particular attention to the sixteenth century, when civic ritual in Venice reached its peak. He shows how the ritualization of society and politics was an important reason for Venice's stability. Influenced in part by cultural anthropology, he establishes and applies to Venice a new methodology for the historical study of civic ritual.
In comprehensive detail Margaret King analyzes the activities of the patricians who were predominant in the ranks of the humanists and who made humanist thought a powerful tool in the service of ...their class and of the city itself.
Originally published in 1986.
ThePrinceton Legacy Libraryuses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
In The Anxieties of a Citizen Class Kiril Petkov reveals the uses of religious symbolism and miracle metaphors for the expression and alleviation of the social anxieties accompanying the formation of ...the cittadini originarii, the upper-middle class of fifteenth-century Venice.
As the print capital of early modern Europe, Venice developed a unique relationship to the Americas. Horodowich demonstrates how with their printed texts and maps, Venetian newsmongers embraced a ...fertile tension between the distant and the close. In doing so, they played a crucial yet heretofore unrecognized role in the invention of America.
This book deals with the Netherlandish merchant community in early modern Venice. It analyses how these immigrant traders used their commercial position to secure a place in the city and shows the ...consequences of the changes in international commerce for Venetian society.
Historians have long held that during the decades from the end of the Habsburg-Valois Wars in 1559 until the outbreak in 1618 of the Thirty Years' War, Spanish domination of Italy was so complete ...that one can refer to the period as a pax hispanica. In this book, based on extensive research in the papers of the ambassadors who represented Charles V and Philip II, Michael J. Levin instead reveals the true fragility of Spanish control and the ambiguous nature of its impact on Italian political and cultural life. While exploring the nature and weaknesses of Spanish imperialism in the sixteenth century, Levin focuses on the activities of Spain's emissaries in Rome and Venice, drawing us into a world of intrigue and occasional violence as the Spaniards attempted to manipulate the crosscurrents of Italian and papal politics to serve their own ends. Levin's often-colorful account uncovers the vibrant world of late Renaissance diplomacy in which popes were forced to flee down secret staircases and ambassadors too often only narrowly avoided assassination. An important contribution to our understanding of the nature and limits of the Spanish imperial system, Agents of Empire more broadly highlights the centrality of diplomatic history to any consideration of the politics of empire.
Historian Eric R Dursteler reconsiders identity in the early modern world to illuminate Veneto-Ottoman cultural interaction and coexistence, challenging the model of hostile relations and suggesting ...instead a more complex understanding of the intersection of cultures. Although dissonance and strife were certainly part of this relationship, he argues, coexistence and cooperation were more common.Moving beyond the "clash of civilizations" model that surveys the relationship between Islam and Christianity from a geopolitical perch, Dursteler analyzes the lived reality by focusing on a localized microcosm: the Venetian merchant and diplomatic community in Muslim Constantinople.While factors such as religion, culture, and political status could be integral elements in constructions of self and community, Dursteler finds early modern identity to be more than the sum total of its constitutent parts and reveals how the fluidity and malleability of identity in this time and place made coexistence among disparate cultures possible.
In this book, Muir explores an era of cultural innovation that promoted free inquiry in the face of philosophical and theological orthodoxy, advocated libertine morals, critiqued the tyranny of ...aristocratic fathers over their daughters, and expanded the theatrical potential of grand opera. In so doing, he reveals the distinguished past of today's culture wars, including debates about the place of women in society, the clash between science and faith, and the power of the arts to stir emotions.
